Kenai the Clicker Boy…by Lisa Harmon March 27, 2009

Kenai practicing ignore-you outside, 15 mo old

I greatly appreciate the approach of positive, operant conditioning training. It can have remarkable effects, if you know what you’re doing. My only complaint is it takes awhile to actually know what you’re doing, at least for fog-heads like me.

There’s nothing you can’t teach a dog with a clicker and goodie bag they say, and I believe that. Heck, zoos use clicker training on lions and elephants and such, to make vet visits safer. People teach their dogs to balance on balls, and cats to do tricks, and horses too. So you’d think yowza, give me a clicker and a goodie bag, here I come!!

My first foray into it was a yowza, and 6 mo old Kenai went from blah and uninterested to on-fire happy, look-at-me-ma-I’m-having-fun. Oh it was a blast! But like everything else, the beginner’s luck wore off, ya know? Then it was figure out how to shape, how to lure, find what motivates him more than a scent trail now that he’s a teenager.

Learning the ins and outs of clicker training can be a fair amount of effort for the human if the dog doesn’t seem to be willing to give you their attention. Of course, the more traditional training styles have that same problem too. What I’m wanting is simple. It’s got to be simple; fog-head, remember?

That’s why I liked Sue Ailsby’s training levels–good humor, work with what the dog gives ya, little by little, with no 6-wk class time frame. Laid out step by step, so the planning of a cohesive training scheme wasn’t up to me. It’s sort of idiot proof, which appeals to me! http://www.dragonflyllama.com/%20DOGS/%20Dog1/levels.html

And considering my fog and anxiety, telling me to be the perfect calm trainer/whisperer at all times is wasted breath. That’s why I like Karen Pryor’s “Click to Calm” book premise–the handler can’t always have perfect control of their own reactions, so change how the dog responds to the handler’s reactions. http://www.clickertraining.com/node/339

I can get the best, the bomb, the most fantabulous snazzy obedience practice out of Kenai in any room of the house with a clicker and lamb crunchies. The yowza boy. The moment his foot steps out of doors now, even if he just pokes his head out, the only motivation he feels is to chase, sniff, and ignore.

So, okay, get some advice on how to gain his willing attention outside–how to take on not a behavior, but an instinct and win. A gazillion ideas are offered, so many the question is where to start. I feel somewhat like a mosquito invading a nudist colony: too many places to bite.

I get to contemplate the sheer amount of work this will be for me, since he has no interest in food or toy rewards outside. If I can figure out what to make a reward, I’ll have my foot in the door! The sits and downs are easy. The instincts aren’t. So while I blow up brain cells being creative about outside training…

Kenai’s had less boredom inside. I’m playing with him more, while I do this and do that. Toss an empty shampoo bottle down (a new toy!) as the eggs cook. Come along with me, and I’ll play boo when we get to the living room. That kind of thing. Entertain the brain.

He had a public outing yesterday and the day before, at the gas station, vet for paperwork, and the smoke shop. No harness, just vest and gentle leader. Overall, not bad. Still not relaxed, but enjoyed being released to see people a couple times. Hopefully, that will return a bit of enjoyment to his outings.

His new favorite game is “bury my head”. He stuffs his entire head into the toy box, rooting around, then sending piles of stuffies flying in one big fling. That way he can pick and choose more easily, you see. I’m gonna have to teach BB to put them back in the box, since Brown is uninterested in such things, lamb crunchies notwithstanding.

Last summer I’d taught BB to pick up sticks and drop them on a pile, so hopefully he won’t feel the need to play with them awhile and leave them in the next room. Beebs has the inclination to retrieve, and willingness to do what I want. Brown, not so much.

Such is life with an adolescent. I’m out of not-demolished empty shampoo bottles now…